UtahsRight: A look at divorce filings by court district

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The highest rate of divorce filings in Utah is found in the Third District Court, which includes courts located in West Jordan, Park City, Salt Lake City and Tooele.

Petitioners filed for divorce in the Third District at a rate of 23 per 10,000 people from January to August of this year. That equaled 2,475 divorces for the tri-county area's population of about 1.12 million.

The Third District Court in Salt Lake City had 1,469 petitioners who filed for divorce in that time frame, while the West Jordan courthouse had 1,006 who filed. The Park City (Silver Summit) courthouse had 58 petitioners file, and the Tooele courthouse had 118 petitioners file for divorce.

The second-highest divorce rate per capita was in the Eighth District Court, which encompasses courthouses in Duchesne, Daggett and Uintah. Nineteen residents per 10,000 filed for divorce, with 65 petitioners filing in the Vernal courthouse, 26 in the Roosevelt courthouse, nine in the Duchesne courthouse, and one in the Manila courthouse.

Closely behind, both the Second and Fourth District Courts shared a per capita rate of 17 petitioners for every 10,000 people.

The Second District Court, which includes Weber, Davis and Morgan counties, had a total of 1,040 petitioners file for the divorce. The Farmington courthouse had 553 petitioners file, the Ogden courthouse had 475, and the Morgan courthouse had 12 filings.

The Fourth District Court, which includes Juab and Millard counties, had a total of 968 petitioners file for divorce. Seventeen of those came from the Nephi courthouse, 19 from the Fillmore courthouse, 84 from the American Fork courthouse, and 814 from the Provo courthouse.

The Fifth District Court, which includes Beaver, Iron and Washington counties, had the lowest per capita rate, with three petitioners filing for divorce for every 10,000 people. The Cedar City courthouse had 65 filings from January-August 2011, and the Beaver courthouse had nine.

The Seventh District Court, which includes Carbon, Emery, and Grand counties, had 65 petitioners file for divorce, a per capita rate of 11 per every 10,000 people.

The Sixth District, which includes Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne, Garfield, and Kane counties, had 81 petitioners file, a per capita rate of 12 per every 10,000 people.

The First District Court, which encompasses Box Elder, Cache, and Rich counties, had 249 petitioners file for divorce, a per capita rate of 15 per every 10,000 people. The Logan courthouse had 140 petitioners file, the Brigham City courthouse had 105, and the courthouse in Randolph had 4 petitioners file.

The data was compiled by UtahsRight.com for a weekly series in The Salt Lake Tribune's neighborhood sections highlighting information gleaned from public databases. Specific information about divorces and district court filings, along with other public information data, is available at UtahsRight.com.

UtahsRight.com, the data website for The Salt Lake Tribune, conducts an ongoing statewide quest for district court information and other public information, including salaries of public employees and restaurant inspections, using public records requests made under the state's Government Records Access and Management Act, also known as GRAMA.